


Familial

by frozenCinders



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, [chanting] uncle braig! uncle braig! uncle braig!, uncle braig cinematic universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-07 02:22:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18401204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozenCinders/pseuds/frozenCinders
Summary: This morning, Braig thought Xehanort had actual work for him and was prepared to get his hands dirty. Now, he has a kid in a mask in his house playing computer games and eating whatever candy Braig throws at him-- as soon as he's not looking, that is. He is doing an excellent job at babysitting, he thinks.





	Familial

"Hup!"

"..."

"Come on, you aren't even trying!"

Vanitas watches the ball succumb to Braig's gravity control, bouncing furiously in midair until he slams it towards Vanitas again. Vanitas walks out of the way, still puzzled by what's happening.

"Aren't you supposed to be training me or something?" he asks, as that was what Master Xehanort had told him.

"Train THIS," is Braig's reply as he teleports behind Vanitas to reach the ball and hit it back over to him. Fed up, Vanitas finally hits the ball back towards Braig, who flips his gravity back to normal to stand on the ground as he starts clapping.

"Hey, you do know how to have fun!"

"You call that fun?"

"What, you're not having fun?"

Braig dismisses his weapons and lets the ball roll away.

"Jeez, what am I supposed to do with you?" he asks himself. At least, Vanitas assumes that wasn't a direct question.

"Tell you what, kid. You like candy?"

Vanitas doesn't know. He's stumped on how to answer.

"Alright, fine, don't answer," Braig gripes, waving his hands.

He pulls something out of his pocket and tosses it at Vanitas, who catches it without thinking.

"There. You must want it if you caught it, right? Go ahead, try it."

Vanitas wonders if this is some kind of trick. He doesn't particularly want to let his mask down in front of Braig (or anyone, for that matter), so he continues giving him the silent treatment.

"... Alright, alright, jeez. You know, if this is gonna work, you're gonna have to _cooperate_ , you get it?"

"Never had to cooperate with anyone before," Vanitas idly comments.

"Well, you cooperate with Xehanort, don't you? Why do you follow that scraggly old man around anyway? You're like a little puppy on his heels," Braig lightly mocks. Vanitas has heard far worse.

"It's not like I have a choice."

"Don't you? I don't see a leash. This puppy could run free if he wanted to." He pauses, seeming to think of something. "Unless you're telling me he's got a shock collar on you."

It sounds like he's just joking, but like a dog in a shock collar, the memory of pain has engraved itself into his instincts, forming invisible boundaries. Alone, he wouldn't dare cross them-- and Vanitas has _always_  been alone.

"Tell you what, you can just follow me around instead today, alright? No cooperation required," Braig says, then pauses to crack his neck and stretch. "That being said... I'd rather be at home right now. Into the dark corridor you go, kiddo."

He stands by the one he's summoned and waits to see if Vanitas will walk through. He honestly contemplates staying put, but what would that accomplish? He could just wait for Master Xehanort to come back and beat him, or he could follow this stranger into unknown territory.

He ends up going with Braig.

* * *

"So, use these little arrows to move and hold down this key to shoot. The one next to it uses a spell, but save those for if your little character is about to die. Oh, and hold down shift to move slower; it'll save your ass," Braig explains, hesitating for a split second after realizing he just swore in front of a child before deciding he doesn't really give a shit.

This morning, Braig thought Xehanort had actual work for him and was prepared to get his hands dirty. Now, he has a kid in a mask in his house playing computer games and eating whatever candy Braig throws at him-- as soon as he's not looking, that is. He is doing an excellent job at babysitting, he thinks.

"I don't get it," he hears Vanitas say in frustration. "How do you even play this game?"

"What? Come on, I already told you. You-- oh, I still have it set to one life, hang on," Braig interrupts himself, leaning in and taking over the keyboard to exit to the main menu and change the settings. He bumps the default extra lives up as high as they'll go.

"Want me to show you how it's done?" he asks, going into practice mode and jumping to the 5th stage just because the first is too slow for him, even on lunatic. He keeps the difficulty on normal to give Vanitas an idea of what he'll be up against, since he refuses to play on easy.

(Braig finds the thought "that's my boy" kicking around at the back of his mind.)

Vanitas is too entranced to ask any questions as he watches Braig get through the level perfectly. He fights Sakuya just to show Vanitas what a boss fight looks like since he certainly hasn't seen one yet, and he even uses Marisa's Master Spark to show him how bombs work.

"This one slows you down and has limited range," he explains. "Reimu's the better choice for a beginner, anyway."

Vanitas has an especially careful way of playing, never venturing towards the top of the screen no matter how much Braig pesters him to. It's like he sees Marisa (whom he stubbornly chose despite Braig's recommendation) as an extension of himself; like if she gets hurt, he'll feel it. Braig will have to teach Vanitas how video games work, but the kid's apparent fear is endearing.

When Vanitas gets bored of trying to conquer Touhou, Braig just throws something on TV for him and gives him another handful of mini KitKat bars. See? Kids are easy as hell to handle.

(He tells himself he doesn't care, but he keeps an ear out for inappropriate material anyway so he can change the channel if he needs to.)

* * *

 

Time passes and Vanitas starts visiting Braig on his own. He even finds out that he hasn't been getting permission from Xehanort. He lets Vanitas do what he wants, to the point where he's spending so much time there that Xehanort gets aggravated and starts looking for him.

"Congratulations, kiddo," Braig greets him with that day, "you're officially missing."

"How can I be missing when I'm right here?" Vanitas asks. He's sitting at the table, carefully working on something something that he covers up when Braig tries to look.

"Yeah, well, the old coot doesn't know that. He's kicking up a real fuss about it. I wouldn't go see him if I were you."

"Wasn't planning on it."

"Oh-ho, is that so?" Braig laughs. "Has the little puppy finally run away from home?"

"I don't have a home," Vanitas says offhandedly, and while Braig can normally maintain his annoying composure in almost any situation, his face falls at that.

"Well, you can always stay here, kiddo," he offers, since Vanitas has been coming and going as he pleases anyway.

Vanitas doesn't answer him, but Braig sees that his arms continue moving. He wanders away just for a few minutes, and by the time he gets back, Vanitas is standing and holding something behind his back, his mask down for the first time that Braig has seen. He didn't expect the eyes that are so reminiscent of Xehanort's, nor the wild hair that must barely fit in that helmet.

"Normal people... have families," he says, clearly not knowing where to put his eyes by the way they flit around.

"They sure do, kiddo," Braig says, catching on. "What's the matter, you wanna be normal?"

He pushes a piece of paper at Braig's chest, waiting until he has a hold of it to quickly let his mask back up and walk away. Braig holds the paper away from himself and wheezes when he sees what's on it; something silently wracks his body for a second and he doesn't know whether to laugh or cry for this poor kid.

On the sheet is a drawing reminiscent of one from a scene from a kid's movie Braig had watched with Vanitas the other day. It's a sorry drawing of Braig colored in all the way in red, with a square of the same color next to him labeled "uncle level".

He starts digging through all the drawers in his kitchen until he finds a magnet and pins the drawing right on the fridge. Vanitas never does end up leaving on his own again. Braig allows Xehanort to remain none the wiser; he does have to protect his nephew, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> my brain gave me the idea for this au immediately after work today i have been screaming for hours. i plan to write a bunch of one-off vanitas + uncle braig scenarios whenever i think of them, which is why i've already made a collection out of this (that i encourage anyone to please add to)
> 
> side notes: don't question braig having access to touhou games and lilo & stitch the movie [link voice] it's MY fic and I get to choose what is reasonable to expect from canon
> 
> also my writing sideblog is frozencinders.tumblr.com please send me vanitas prompts (extra bonus points for uncle braig content)


End file.
